According to the LYCOS.COM Internet search engine, the top 10 things being searched for in 2002 were:
- Dragonball-Z. A japanese cartoon extremely popular with kids and college students
- KaZaA File-sharing
- Tattoos… although this could be a misspelling. See below.
- Britney Spears
- Morpheus File-sharing
- NFL Fantasy football. It’s so huge that the NFL has finally embraced the concept on their own website.
- The IRS
- Halloween
- Christmas
- Pamela Anderson
Other things that were notably popular include:
- Japanese cartoon and card game Yu-Gi-Oh!
- female singer Shakira
Some of the most popular search terms from previous years, such as Napster, N*Sync, and Pokemon, dropped dramatically.
Web users were not searching for boy bands or rap metal as much as they were searching for comic book characters and female singer/songwriters.
Britney Spears remains the Web’s #1 searched woman for the 3rd consecutive year, but Brooke Burke is rising fast. Also keep an eye on Avril Lavigne and Ashanti.
Some of the things to watch for in 2003 include:
- Upcoming movie sequels MATRIX RELOADED, X-MEN 2, and TERMINATOR 3
- Beyonce Knowles
- Jennifer Garner (starring in Alias and the movie DAREDEVIL)
- high-school basketball phenomenon Lebron James
- video games THE SIMS ONLINE and DOOM 3
- Russian lesbian pop duo t.A.T.u. (pronounced “tattoo”)
- Norwegian actress Kristanna Loken (from Terminator 3)
- Nickelodeon kids’ TV show “Dora the Explorer”
- ABC’s “The Bachelorette”
- the wildly popular new kids’ toy, Beyblade.
Other 2002 stats for “most searched for”:
Top 10 Women:
- Britney Spears
- Pamela Anderson
- Anna Kournikova
- Chu Mei-Feng
- Jennifer Lopez
- Shakira
- Brooke Burke
- Martha Stewart
- Christina Aguilera
- Oprah Winfrey
Top 10 Men:
- Eminem
- Nelly
- Osama bin Laden
- Tupac Shakur
- Ja Rule
- Orlando Bloom
- Elvis Presley
- Josh Hartnett
- Vin Diesel
- Michael Jackson
Top 10 Bands:
- Linkin Park
- Slipknot
- The Beatles
- B2K
- Incubus
- Blink-182
- Nirvana
- Tool
- Metallica
- Dave Matthews Band
Top 10 TV Shows:
- Survivor
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The Simpsons
- Big Brother 3
- Friends
- South Park
- American Idol
- Charmed
- The Bachelor
- Days of Our Lives
Top 10 Films:
- Harry Potter
- Lord of the Rings
- Spider-Man
- Star Wars
- The Fast and the Furious
- The Matrix Reloaded
- James Bond: Die Another Day
- Titanic
- The X-Men
- Tomb Raider
Top 10 Sports Stars:
- Anna Kournikova
- Michael Jordan
- Allen Iverson
- Apolo Anton Ohno
- Muhammed Ali
- Jeff Gordon
- Michelle Kwan
- Dale Earnhardt
- Tiger Woods
- Serena Williams
Top 10 News Events:
- Winter Olympics
- Sept. 11 Anniversary
- War on Terror
- Super Bowl XXXVI
- Enron Scandal
- West Nile Virus
- R. Kelly Scandal
- World Cup
- Death of Lisa Lopes
- Washington Snipers
Top 10 Fads:
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Zoids
- American Idol
- The Ketchup Song
- The Bachelor
- BMW Mini Cooper
- Beyblade
- Coral Calcium health supplement
- Enzyte male health supplement
- Curling